Experimental investigations on the mechanically stabilised earth wall under static load conditions

Four model tests were performed to examine the load-displacement behavior of a mechanically stabilised earth wall, where uniaxial geogrids and waste tires were adopted as the reinforcement materials. The effects of reinforcement length, reinforcement layer spacing and material type of reinforcement on the load-displacement response of the earth wall were investigated. The experimental results suggest that the vertical earth pressures measured at the observation points are location-dependent and generally increase with the increasing load applied at the top of the wall; the horizontal displacement of the wall also has an increasing trend for the applied load less than a critical value, beyond which the trend can be reversed. Besides, increasing the layers and length of reinforcement can reduce the vertical earth pressure, decrease the horizontal displacement of earth wall, and alleviate the strain of the reinforcement. The results also indicate that waste tires are desirable reinforcement materials to be applied to a mechanically stabilised earth wall, which is beneficial to the recycling of rubber resources and environmental protection.